The revised Regents Rule 3.27 and 3.30 which govern chartered museums and historical societies is now open for public comment.  The draft was published in the July 13  State Register.  The formal 45-day comment period extends from July 14 through August 29.  At the end of that period we will prepare an assessment of all comments for Regents review.  

The Regents voted on the revised regulation on July 22 and will review and vote again on September 8 and 9.

The Office of Cultural Education proposed the revisions because the current March 1971 rules do not provide sufficient detail for chartered organizations to know whether they meet standards and qualify for an absolute charter.  Our partner in this venture is the Museum Association of New York, a private not-for-profit organization representing member museums and historical societies.  

Since the rule is lengthy, only a summary appeared in the State Register.  We have posted the full text on the following official State web site:

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/charter

and a copy at the Museum Association web site:

http://www.manyonline.org

We believe that the new rules will strengthen all institutions.  I appreciate your time in reviewing the draft.  We invite your comments.  Please address them in writing to:

-   Museum Chartering, New York State Museum, 3097 Cultural Education Center, Albany New York 12230; 
-   FAX 518-473-8496; 
-   e-mail [log in to unmask]

If you have commented previously, we have your statement on file and you do not have to repeat your comments.  We will include your comments as part of our assessment.

The revised rule proposes higher standards for financial reporting, audits and  care of collections.  It requires adoption of mission statements and conflict of interest statements.  

Smaller institutions had concerns about certain requirements which we have addressed.  

The most recent changes since a previous draft was mailed to all institutions in December 2004 are as follows:

- Smaller institutions will be exempted from a requirement to be open 1,000 hours a year.  The requirement would apply only to those institutions with operating budgets over $100,000.

- Smaller museums may operate with experienced and qualified paid and/or unpaid staff.  The current requirement for paid staff would apply only to those museums with operating budgets over $100,000.

- We added an audit requirement equivalent to the Attorney General's requirement for those not-for-profit corporations organized under the Department of State and supervised by the AG's Charities Bureau.  Both the AG's and our audit requirement applies only to those institutions with operating budgets over $100,000.

- We will require every institution to form an audit committee made up of members of its Board which will review the institution's financial transactions and reports.

- We dropped a proposal for re-registration every five years for institutions holding absolute charters.  There was considerable support for a regular "revisiting" of absolutely-chartered institutions, but we do not have the staff capacity in Albany to effectively carry this out.

- We dropped a proposal that institutions deaccessioning objects from their collection notify other museums and notify the New York State Museum.  There was disagreement among museums as to whether this should be a requirement.  We recommend such notification as good practice and good citizenship, but will not require it.




David W. Palmquist
Head, Chartering Program
NY State Museum
NY State Education Department
3097 Cultural Education Center
Albany NY 12230
518-473-3131
FAX 518-473-8496
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
web site:  www.nysm.nysed.gov/charter/